Copernicus Climate Change Service, the European climate monitoring service, confirms it: 2023 will be the hottest year in history .
This year «has already recorded six months and two record seasons. November's extraordinary global temperatures, including two days 2ºC warmer than pre-industrial times, make 2023 the warmest year in recorded history,” says Samantha Burgess, Deputy Director of Copernicus.
«As long as the concentrations of greenhouse gases continue to increase - explains Carlo Buontempo, director of the service - we cannot expect different results from those seen this year. Temperatures will continue to rise and so will the impact of heat waves and droughts. Reaching net zero as soon as possible is an effective way to manage our climate risks."
Last month's data is also not positive. 2023 was the warmest November ever recorded globally, with an average surface air temperature of 14.22°C, i.e. 0.85°C above the November 1991-2020 average and 0.32 °C above the temperature of the previous warmest November, 2020. The global temperature anomaly was equal to that of October 2023 and lower only than the September 2023 anomaly of 0.93°C. November 2023 was about 1.75°C warmer than the estimated average November between 1850-1900, the pre-industrial reference period.
Tracking the 11 months of 2023 also reveals new records. From January to November, the global average temperature is the highest ever recorded, 1.46°C above the pre-industrial average of 1850-1900 and 0.13°C higher than the 11-month average of 2016, currently l hottest calendar year on record.
Arctic sea ice extent, Copernicus explains, reached the eighth lowest value for November, at 4% below average, well above the lowest November value recorded in 2016 (13% below below average). Antarctic sea ice extent was the second lowest for November, 9% below average, after reaching record values for this time of year by wide margins for six consecutive months.
(Unioneonline/D)
